[22 Paradise Rd., Northampton, Mass.]
Letter 99.
Itravels, trips and plansTSE's 1941 Northern tour;e3recounted;a5 have returned triumphantly from my Northern tour: that is to say, that with quite sufficient provocation I have yet taken no cold, and have not felt very tired. Wait till you hear. MyEnglandNewcastle, Northumberland;h7TSE's visit to;a1 train was to arrive in Newcastle at 6.40 p.m., and I was to be met and taken over to the Retreat House in Gateshead for supper, andDemant, Revd Vigo Augusteon TSE's Northern tour;b6 then on, with Demant, who was also speaking and was already there, to speak at Durham. The train was two hours late: it had given lunch and tea, but was unprepared for dinner; so I arrived hungry to be met (by a stranger) and pushed into a taxi to go direct to Durham. (I was thankful to be met, however, as I did not know what to do if I found myself at night in an unknown northern town, with perhaps no taxis and some difficulty in understanding the language). The driver did not know where the hall was, so he stopped at his garage on the way: after a prolonged absence he returned saying that he had found out where it was by ringing up the Bishop of Jarrow. SoEnglandDurham;e7TSE's visit to;a1 I arrived at 9.20, to be taken straight to a hall filled with Durham undergraduates of both sexes: Demant had finished some time before and had had to fill up time by starting a discussion, while they waited to hear Old Possum. So, blinking from the light, I had to make my notes do for a half hour talk – I had expected to comment on what Demant said, but of course I never heard it – and then was given a cold supper by the Principal of St. Chad’s College. Durham looks magnificent by moonlight: I regret to say that I have not yet seen it by day. Then we motored back to Gateshead, where I had half an hour round the fire with some parsons gathered for the conference there. Bed a bit hard, but the water was very hot and I filled my bottle: a cold night and the next morning a blizzard. I talked in the morning to a group, mostly local clergy, about Christian Education: in the afternoon I had thought of taking a bus back to Durham and have a look at it by day, but the weather was so frowning that I remained in the house and had a nap. After tea I was taken by the vicar of St. John’s, Newcastle, back to his vicarage: incidentally the tram broke down and we had to wait shivering for a bus. He was a nice chap from King’s Cambridge, inhabiting an early Victorian house, built a century ago by one of the great shipbuilders, but now in rather a dingy quarter. Here again the bed was hard, and the hot water limited to a can. He had to go out to a meeting, so I stopped with his housekeeper, one of those exceptional saintly little women who devote their lives to looking after clergy, in the basement kitchen. Newcastle is just what you would expect, grim, northern, granite, Victorian industrial. InEnglandPenrith;i4TSE's visit to;a1 the morning I took train for Carlisle, a two hours’ journey, and fell in with one of the clergy, who introduced me to the Red Lion, where we lunched solidly: I had just time for lunch before taking train for Penrith, half an hour away. PenrithRobertses, theand which TSE eventually visits;a3 is a rather pleasant Cumberland town, not too big, and the Roberts’s have a not unpleasantly situated house on the outskirts. I found the family of three children very well: myRoberts, Edward Adamas baby;a3 godson is far from beautiful, being comically like his father, whom you have never seen (MichaelRoberts, Janetresemblance to husband;a7 isRoberts, Michaelresemblance to wife;b2 curiously enough rather like a caricature of Janet) but looks very alert and intelligent: his elder brother and sister are not ill favoured. I had a very pleasant evening with Janet, who is an admirable young woman, serious and devoted, and who I think is thankful to see anybody, cast away in that lonely spot. Michael however gets up from London every few weeks, and they are near the lakes (Ullswater is not very far) so can get the climbing that they like. Here again the bed was hard but the water was very hot, and I had two baths to make up. I had to catch a 9 a.m. train, so as to get back to town in time to get to Guildford: Janet had enquired at the station and been told that my return ticket from Newcastle would be valid; but when I got on the train I found that that was not so, and I had to use most of my cash to pay for another ticket, leaving not enough to dare to have lunch. The Train was an omnibus, stopping everywhere, and an hour late, so I got back to Guildford after dark, to find no taxis at the station, so I had to take the bus and climb the hill with my bag, arriving at 8.30. Well, after all that I did not take cold, and feel rather less tired than before I started: whether it was due to taking Bemax or Dr. Agnes Moncrieff’s homeopathic pills I don’t know. I don’t expect to make any more such excursions in the near future; myUniversity of GlasgowTSE's W. P. Ker Memorial Lecture;a1 first distant journey will be to Glasgow in February or March. There will be an education conference in Oxford at the end of the month, butChristian News-Letter (CNL)first number;a4 at present the C.N.L. board is meeting in London instead, which saves me a good deal of wear and tear. The'Rudyard Kipling'approved by Kipling's daughter;a8 Kipling proof is passed, andBukhari, Zulfiqar Alicommissions 'Duchess of Malfy' broadcast;a4 myBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)broadcasts Webster talk;c7 next'Duchess of Malfy, The';a1 jobs are to give a short wave talk to India (for the umbrella man) on the Duchess of Malfy,1 andTrevelyan, Maryand Student Movement House;a2 a talk on Culture to Mary Trevelyan’s foreign students at the Student Movement House.2 IWoolf, Leonardinvites TSE to Rodmell alone;a9 have to go down to Rodmell on Friday to spend a night with Leonard Woolf, whom I have not seen since: I would give a good deal not to have to go there, but he has gone on living in the house: this is not a time when it is easy to move.
I have your letters 106 and 107. I was interested to hear about the S.P.C.A. work, into which you seem to be throwing yourself with great energy, andMcAfee, Mildred HelenEH to interview;a1 I shall look forward eagerly to learn the result of your interview with Miss McAfee.3 SheSheffield, Ada Eliot (TSE's sister);h9 wasSheffield, Alfred Dwight ('Shef' or 'Sheff');a6 a youngish college president, but I know that Sheff and Ada liked her, and I thought her agreeable when I met her for a moment. Wellesley is perhaps a bit too near Boston, but if there were a job and it were what you want, you would take it. (BySeaverns, Helen;d6 the way, I have at last written to Mrs. Seaverns!!). DoHale, Irene (née Baumgras)not to be indulged;c8 please be firm with yourself and not let Aunt Irene be a burden, though I recognise the fact that she is a responsibility. (IIovetz-Tereshchenko, N. M.;a4 must tell you some time about my little white man’s burden, Dr. N. M. Iovetz-Tereshchenko, the specialist on adolescent psychology or hebology). I am glad you have your birthday celebration in Boston, andEliots, the Henryinvited to EH's birthday;b4 I do hope that Henry and Theresa were able to come: I hope he is taking proper care of himself after his operation – he is 61. IdogsTSE's wish that EH choose dog for him;b2 wish I had a dog you had chosen for me, or even a cat: when I get the cottage, if that happens, I mean to have one. Impossible, of course, here.
OneSecond World WarOperation Barbarossa;c8 waits in agonised suspense on Russian affairs.4
1.TSE’s talk ‘The Duchess of Malfy’ was broadcast on the BBC Indian Service on 25 Nov. 1941; published in abbreviated form in the Listener 26 (18 Dec. 1941), 825–6: in full in CProse 6, 203–8. TSE wrote on a copy: ‘Valerie – please note – this was given on the Indian Service. I objected to the Listener publishing it just as if it had been addressed to English ears. TSE’ (Eliot Collection).
2.MaryTrevelyan, Mary Trevelyan (1897–1983), Warden of Student Movement House, worked devotedly to support the needs of overseas students in London (her institution was based at 32 Russell Square, close to the offices of F&F; later at 103 Gower Street); founder and first governor of International Students House, London. Trevelyan left an unpublished memoir of her friendship with TSE – ‘The Pope of Russell Square’ – whom she long desired to marry. See further Biographical Register.
3.MildredMcAfee, Mildred Helen Helen McAfee (1900–94), pioneering academic and administrator; daughter of a Presbyterian minister. Appointed (at the age of 36) as 7th President of Wellesley College, 1936–42. Later, first director of WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in the U.S. Navy (awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal); U.S. delegate to UNESCO; co-chair of President John F. Kennedy’s Women’s Committee for Civil Rights.
4.By the date of this letter German forces had advanced to within 60 miles of Moscow but had mostly halted for the moment, hoping that their mobility would be revived after the deep autumn mud had frozen and harder ground had been restored.
1.ZulfiqarBukhari, Zulfiqar Ali Ali Bokhari/Bukhari (1904–75), born in Peshawar, was Director of the Delhi Broadcasting Station of All India Radio before removing to London in July 1937. Director of the Indian Section of the BBC Eastern Service, 1940–5; instrumental in recruiting George Orwell. In 1945 he returned to India as Director of All India Radio Station, Calcutta; later to Karachi to work as Controller in Broadcasting for Radio Pakistan. See Talking to India, ed. Orwell (1943); Ruvani Ranasinha, South Asian Writers in Twentieth Century Britain: Culture in Translation (Oxford, 2007); W. J. West, Orwell: The War Broadcasts (1985).
4.RevdDemant, Revd Vigo Auguste Vigo Auguste Demant (1893–1983), Anglican clergyman; leading exponent of ‘Christian Sociology’; vicar of St John-the-Divine, Richmond, Surrey, 1933–42: see Biographical Register.
3.IreneHale, Irene (née Baumgras) Hale, née Baumgras, widow of Philip Hale, celebrated as the prolific and influential music critic of the Boston Herald. Irene Hale, who was herself an accomplished pianist, had studied at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where she gained the Springer Gold Medal 1881, and continued with her studies in Europe under Raif and Moritz Mosckowski: she later wrote music under the name Victor Rene.
2.N. M. Iovetz-TereshchenkoIovetz-Tereshchenko, N. M. (1895–1954), B.Litt. (Oxon), PhD (London): Russian exile; Orthodox Catholic Christian; university lecturer in psychology: see Biographical Register.
3.MildredMcAfee, Mildred Helen Helen McAfee (1900–94), pioneering academic and administrator; daughter of a Presbyterian minister. Appointed (at the age of 36) as 7th President of Wellesley College, 1936–42. Later, first director of WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in the U.S. Navy (awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal); U.S. delegate to UNESCO; co-chair of President John F. Kennedy’s Women’s Committee for Civil Rights.
4.EdwardRoberts, Edward Adam Adam Roberts (b. 29 Aug. 1940) was in due course to be Montague Burton Professor of International Relations and a Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford; President of the British Academy. Knighted in 2002.
1.MichaelRoberts, Michael Roberts (1902–48), critic, editor, poet: see Biographical Register.
3.HelenSeaverns, Helen Seaverns, widow of the American-born businessman and Liberal MP, Joel Herbert Seaverns: see Biographical Register.
2.AdaSheffield, Ada Eliot (TSE's sister) Eliot Sheffield (1869–1943), eldest of the seven Eliot children; author of The Social Case History: Its Construction and Content (1920) and Social Insight in Case Situations (1937): see Biographical Register.
8.AlfredSheffield, Alfred Dwight ('Shef' or 'Sheff') Dwight Sheffield (1871–1961) – ‘Shef’ or ‘Sheff’ – husband of TSE’s eldest sister, taught English at University School, Cleveland, Ohio, and was an English instructor, later Professor, of Group Work at Wellesley College. His publications include Lectures on the Harvard Classics: Confucianism (1909) and Grammar and Thinking: a study of the working conceptions in syntax (1912).
2.MaryTrevelyan, Mary Trevelyan (1897–1983), Warden of Student Movement House, worked devotedly to support the needs of overseas students in London (her institution was based at 32 Russell Square, close to the offices of F&F; later at 103 Gower Street); founder and first governor of International Students House, London. Trevelyan left an unpublished memoir of her friendship with TSE – ‘The Pope of Russell Square’ – whom she long desired to marry. See further Biographical Register.
13.LeonardWoolf, Leonard Woolf (1880–1969), writer and publisher; husband of Virginia Woolf: see Biographical Register.